Imagine a group of loyal customers who follow you beyond the products/services you offer. These communities display loyalty at a different level! If people in this community are emotionally invested in your brand they will invest financially too! Because of all this, they will consume your content and spread the word to family and friends too.
What is a brand community?
A brand community is where people prioritize establishing an emotional connection with the brand, consuming its content, and sharing products/services with others. In other words, they love seeing what their favourite brand has to offer. Communities are key to brand loyalty, awareness, and overall success.
What makes a good brand community?
When businesses can create a sense of community among their customers and around their products or services, they will have the upper hand in the long run. Individual consumers will become brand advocates, and loyal customers will feel even more connected to your products/services.
A brand needs a community to increase brand awareness, understand customers, improve outcomes and build brand loyalty. This is a successful trend, especially in tech companies.
A brand community can be understood by the following characterization:
Personalization
The most successful brand today knows the power of personalization can change your marketing game. By adding an AI-driven layer of personalization, each customer will have their needs met consistently- that means more loyal customers are on the way. It also helps in retention.
Over the past few years, personalization has played a major role in shaping brand communities through social commerce. A company like Starbucks is the best example of this. It creates a personalized shopping experience for its customers by writing their names on the drink offered and also has offers for loyal members.
Engagement & Collaboration
Successful online communities don’t just help you sail through marketing campaigns-they offer good space for customers to connect and find a solution in real-time. Many brands are hopping on this trend of building customer engagement platforms- but few are diving deep into it and understanding it better. If you can create a two-way engagement community, then loyalty will follow without a doubt.
The internet is full of a blank walls. And due to these customers being left unanswered about their most important questions and sometimes redirected for hours, as we get most of the time on customer care calls with teleoperators. It’s a defiantly frustrating ordeal!
As much as it’s important to ask a question in the community, allowing customers to pitch in and present their ideas sometimes can also be beneficial for a brand. This is the case with LEGO and its collaboration efforts. Once this company was on the verge to file bankruptcy, and today it’s one of the best examples of building a huge brand community. Members could submit new concepts, vote on them, and choose ideas to receive their share of royalties.
These types of exchanges allow the company to grow incredibly and gain a loyal customer base. This is also a direct contact between the brand and the user.
Key benefits of building a brand community
One of the best things about being an entrepreneur and having a community is you will have complete control over what content and visual identity is presented in front of the public. Below are some of the benefits:
Customer retention increases
Promoting and growing your brand community through apps is a great way to ensure it will be used for a longer period. When your community is happy about what they experience, they will bring more members into the group- this makes retention easier and cheaper as there is less acquisition cost.
Brands can retain customers by adding engaging features to their platforms like Live chat and streaming. As you are using customer data to find out more about their needs and sell accordingly, better provide the best experience. If you have built trust with them, you will not need much convincing to sell your newly launched product.
Creating brand advocates
It’s hard to get the word out right in public about your company. But your loyal army can do that for you. The online community of followers who are ready to give you reviews and positive feedback will spread the word too. This is why it’s important to transform your brand community into your advocates.
If user-based content is increased that will automatically uplift your brand value and increase sales. Your fans are the most valuable assets you have. Your brand advocates create authentic content that reduces the risk of distrust as it’s real people giving feedback- which means having them on your side is building loyalty with others.
Starbucks is the best example of having a good brand community and creating a success story. Starbucks’ online community is a valuable brand advocate. Because Starbucks allows them to share their ideas and experience on the Starbucks blog and even earn money for their contribution. Starbucks always give prompt reply to their customers online, this enhances engagement and brand loyalty.
Better customer experience
The best way to meet expectations is to know what your customers want, and you can easily know this by collecting customer data and getting feedback through surveys or online communities. Use the data collected in improving their experience with the brand and improve future interactions.
Apple is the best example of this, has always cared deeply about its customers, Apple’s support community is a space for feedback, support, and knowledge sharing. This in turn fuels the engagement among its active fan base. You as a company should make it easier than ever for a better customer experience.
Less dependency on ads
How did you make a recent purchase from your favourite brand? Was it when it was on sale or did you come across an ad? Most likely you purchased it because you have an emotional connection with that particular brand and if we need something we always go back to that same brand without seeing ads.
When you establish a strong brand community, it will automatically draw people towards the brand without putting ads in front of their faces. It is more of an emotional connection.
A proven study shows that User- Generator Content impacts the purchasing power of people. Hence, a brand community leverages this business strategy, and users are more likely to trust the brand as a whole.
Naturally, brand communities are no longer a buzzword but something for all marketers to consider beyond just a tactical drive to sell.
